Songs of the Sioux AFS L23 - The Library of Congress

Recording Laboratory AFS L23

Songs of the

Sioux

From the Archive of Folk Song

Recorded and Edited by Frances Densmore

Library of Congress Washington 1951

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number R55-353 rev

A vailable from the Library of Congress

Music Division, Recorded Sound Section

Washington, D.C. 20540

SONGS OF THE SIOUX

PREFACE

The records of Indian songs, edited by Frances Dens more, make available to students and scholars the hitherto inaccessible and extraordinarily valuable original recordings of Indian music which now form a part of the collections of the Archive of Folk Song in the Library of Congress. The original recordings were made with portable cylinder equipment in the field over a period of many years as part of Dr. Densmore's research for the Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution. The recordings were sub sequently transferred to the National Archives and Record Service and, finally, to the Library of Con gress with a generous gift from Eleanor Steele Reese (Mrs. E. P. Reese) which has made possible the dupli cation of many of the 3,5911 cylinders to more permanent 16-inch acetate discs and the issuance of selected recordings in the present form. The total col lection is unique and constitutes one of the great re corded treasures of the American people.

Frances Densmore of Red Wing, Minn., was born May 21, 1867, and devoted a rich lifetime to the preservation of Indian music. Her published works include Chippewa Music, Teton Sioux Music, North ern Ute Music, Mandan and Hidatsa Music, Papago

Music, Pawnee Music, Yuman and Yaqui Music, Chey enne and Arapaho Music, Choctaw Music, Music of the Indians of British Columbia, Nootka and Quileute Music, Music of the Tule Indians of Panama, and a number of volumes on related subjects. Now, as a fitting complement to these publications, Dr. Dens more selected from the thousands of cylinders the most representative and most valid-in terms of the sound quality of the original recordings-songs of the different Indian tribes. With the recordings, she also prepared accompanying texts and notes-such as those contained in this pamphlet-which authenti cally explain the background and tribal use of the music for the interested student.

This record and the series of which it forms a part are a valuable addition to the history, folklore, and musicology of our North American continent. The record's value is increased for us with the knowledge that much of the music has, unfortunately, dis appeared from the American scene. To Dr. Densmore and other Smithsonian collectors, and particularly to the Indian singers who recorded for them, we must be grateful for rescuing this music from total oblivion.

DUNCAN EMRICH

Chief, Folklore Section

,

1 Certain of the cylinders transferred to the Library of Congress were made by other field collectors of the Smithsonian Institution, but the great bulk of them-2,385 to be exact- were recorded by Dr. Densmore, and these have been designated as the Smithsonian-Densmore Collection.

List of Songs

Record No. L23

AI A2

A3

A4 AS A6

A7 A8

A9

AIO

Title

Songs of the Sun Dance

Song of the Braves' Dance Song of Cutting the Pole for the Sun Dance Opening Prayer of the Sun Dance "Black face-paint he grants me" "I have conquered them" Dancing Song

War Songs

"Those are not my interest"

"Watch your horses"

Wolf Song

"You may go on the warpath"

Songs of the Grass Dance

All

"They are charging them"

AI2

Song of the Grass Dance (a)

AI3

Song of the Grass Dance (b)

Miscellaneous Songs

AI4

Song of the Famine

BI

Song of the Shuffling-feet Dance

B2

Begging Song

B3

Song of the Moccasin Game

B4

Song of the Stick Game

Songs ofSocieties

BS

"Northward they are walking"

B6

"Horses are coming"

B7

Song of the Badger Society

Song Concerning the Sacred Stones

B8

"A voice I sent"

Songs Used in the Treatment of the Sick

B9

"A buffalo said to me"

BIO

Song of the Bear

Bll

"Behold the dawn"

Miscellaneous Songs

BI2

Song in Honor of Gabriel Renville

BI3

Song of Sitting Bull

1 Siya' ka is the only singer who is commonly known by his Sioux name.

2

Singer

Red Bird Siya'ka 1 Red Bird Red Bird Lone Man Siya'ka

Two Shields

Kills-at-Night

I' II

"

Holy-Face Bear Kills-at-Night and Woman's Neck Used-as-a-Shield Gray Hawk Kills-at-Night

Little Conjuror Brave Buffalo Gray Hawk

Bear Eagle

Brave Buffalo Eagle Shield Brave Buffalo

Moses Renville Used-as-a-Shield

Names of Singers

Number ofSongs

4 4 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1

1 1 1

English name

Standing Rock Reservation

Kills-at-Night 1 Two Shields Brave Buffalo Red Bird Gray Hawk Teal Duck Used-as-a-Shield Bear Eagle Eagle Shield Lone Man Woman's Neck

(With her husband, Kills-at-Night)

Sisseton Reservation

Holy-Face Bear Little Conjuror Moses Renville

Sioux name

Ha1}he ' pikte Waha' cunka-non 'pa Tatan 'ka~ohi' tika Zint1~a' la-lu' ta Cetan' -hota Siya Jka Waha' canka-ya' pi Mato ' -wanbli' Wanbli' -w'aha' cunka ISn~ 'la-wica' ' Wita'hu

Mato ' -ite ' -wakan Wakan' -cika'na ' Mawi~

Phonetics

Vowels have the Continental sounds except when followed by the nasal It, which somewhat modifies the sound.

Dipthongs have the same sounds as in English.

The following consonants are pronounced as in English-b, d, g (as in "get"), h, k, 1, m, n, p, s, t, w, y, and z.

c is an aspirate with the sound of English ch, as in "chin."

gis a deep sonant guttural resembling the Arabic "ghain."

Ii is an unvoiced velar fricative resembling the Arabic "kha."

It denotes a nasal sound similar to the English n in "drink."

Sis an aspirated sound, having the sound of EI).glish sh, as in "shine."

i is an aspirated z, having the sound of the English s in "pleasure."

1 Kills-at-Night sang an additional song with his wife, Wita 'hu.

3

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